Casablanca- One of the last things any nation would ever aspire to be ranked higher in is the production, trafficking or export of drugs. Unfortunately, Morocco still figures as one of the major producers of the controlled substance, the cannabis.

Youssef Sourgo is currently a Master’s student in Linguistic and Literary studies at Ain Chok Faculty of Letters and Humanities.

Nov 12, 2013

Casablanca- One of the last things any nation would ever aspire to be ranked higher in is the production, trafficking or export of drugs. Unfortunately, Morocco still figures as one of the major producers of the controlled substance, the cannabis.

According to UN’s recent report on drugs and crime, Morocco, alongside Afghanistan, “remain the foremost source countries for cannabis resin” in the world.

This report is to be expected to be presented at the 48th edition of the committee on drugs trafficking in the Middle East and North Africa, on November 25, in Vienna, Austria.

According to the report, Europe remains the most important market for Moroccan cannabis, whereas the Middle East is the main market for Afghani Hashish.

Furthermore, Spain is the main gateway through which Moroccan Hashish is smuggled and is also the country that managed to confiscate the largest quantity of smuggled Moroccan Hashish, which is around 34%.

Morocco, on the other hand, managed to confiscate only 12 % of the overall quantity of cannabis smuggled across its land.

Moreover, the Moroccan areas in which cannabis is cultivated cover 47,000 hectares in total, compared to 12,000 hectares in Afghanistan.

However, while UN’s recent report clearly stated that Afghanistan is, along with Morocco, one of the main producers and exporters of cannabis worldwide, recent publications in Algerian press have signaled Morocco as the only major producer of this substance in the world.

“Morocco remains the number one producer and exporter of cannabis in the world,” wrote recently Algerian news outlet Echoroukonline.